On October 17, the 14th ranked Saint Xavier football team battled the 25th ranked St. Ambrose Bees on the gridiron in a matchup of top 25 teams. The Cougars’ defense shined in this one, proving themselves as a forced to be reckoned with and the reason why the Cougars won this game so handedly.
The first drive of the game for the Cougars did not produce a score, continuing a disturbing trend that we saw in last week’s game against Concordia. However, the defense would respond as they would shut down the Bees’ first drive and force them to punt the ball back to the Cougars’ offense.
A good punt that made the Cougars start their drive from their own seven yard line would result in the Cougars, once again, having to punt the ball back to St. Ambrose without scoring. The defense would once again come through, forcing SAU to punt on their second drive of the game.
On the ensuing punt, the Cougars’ offense would take a blow as wide receiver Stephen Simms would be called for a targeting personal foul, which resulted in the Cougars’ drive beginning at their own seven yard line once again and Simms being ejected from the game.
This offensive drive would start with a 20 yard run by running back Dennis Vilmek being called back due to a holding penalty. This penalty would not stop the Cougars’ offense however as quarterback John Rhode would would scramble for a 23 yard run on second and one to put the Cougars at their own 40 yard line and continue their drive.
A couple of plays later, Rhode would also move the chains with his arm as well completing a 26 yard pass to wide receiver Ryan Carroll to set the Cougars up in the red zone at the SAU 14 yard line.
Another key moment of the drive game on first and goal from the SAU 4 yard line.
It appeared on this play that Rhode had thrown a red zone interception, however there was a defensive holding call on the play that result in the Cougars retaining possession of the ball at the two yard line.
This would be crucial as Rhode would run into the endzone himself to give the Cougars a 7-0 lead with just 33 seconds left in the first quarter. The Cougars would take this lead into the second quarter.
At the start of the second quarter, the Bees would attempt to answer back with a touchdown of their own. In what was their first effective drive of the quarter, St. Ambrose would be able to drive the ball all the way down to the SXU 21 yard line.
However, a sack by defensive tackle Nick Cemeno on 1st on 10 from the 21 yard line would halt their drive and force them to kick a field goal. SAU would convert on said field goal attempt, but the Cougars still lead 7-3 with 12:59 left in the half.
The Cougars’ offense would attempt to build on the momentum from their previous drive that resulted in a touchdown. At first, it seemed like the Cougars would go three and out and punt the ball, but an offsides and personal foul penalty on SAU on back to back third down plays gave the Cougars a first down and gave the drive some new life.
After driving all the way down to the SAU 19 yard line, the Cougars would once again convert on third down as Rhode would complete a 19 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mark Strbjak to extend the lead to 14-3 with 10:24 left in the half.
Looking to respond again, St. Ambrose would attempt to drive down the field, hoping to cut the Cougars’ lead down to four points with a touchdown. However, the Cougars’ stingy defense would have none of it as inside linebacker M. Mettille would force a fumble that would be recovered by strong safety Robbie Brindley.
Unfortunately, the Cougars’ offense would not be able to capitalize on the turnover, going three and out and punting the ball back to the Bees. The next St. Ambrose drive looked to be stopped, once again, by the Cougars’ defense.
However, a personal foul on the SXU special teams would allow their opponent’s drive to continue. Fortunately, the Cougars would stop them from moving the ball thanks to a sack by defensive lineman Dimitri Joe and force them to punt.
With 2:35 left to go in the half, the Cougars hoped to cap off a solid first half team performance from the Cougars. Starting at the SAU 46 yard line, the Cougars’ offense would drive down to the 28 yard line. However, a sack by St. Ambrose’s defense would force the Cougars to attempt a 48 yard field goal.
Kicker Abdul Madhi would nail this kick sending the Cougars into the second half with a 17-3 lead. On the first drive of the second half, St. Ambrose’s offense looked determine to cut into the Cougars’ lead on what was their best drive of the game to that point.
However, with the Cougars’ defense backed up into their own territory, Joe would once again make a spectacular play on 3rd and 13 from the SXU 36. On that play, Joe would sack the Bees’ quarterback and force him to fumble the ball which was recovered by cornerback Matt Johnson and taken all the way to the SAU 33 yard line.
With a short field position, it seemed as if the Cougars would certainly score a touchdown on this drive and all but end this game. Unfortunately, Rhode would throw an interception on a pass in the endzone to keep the score at 17-3.
Despite the offense’s inability to score on that drive, the Cougars’ defense would once again come through by forcing another three and out. The Cougars’ offense, starting at the SAU 44 yard line, would not miss this prime opportunity to score as they would take the ball all the way down to the two yard line, where running back Mike Ivlow would pound the ball into the endzone to give the Cougars a comfortable 24-3 lead with 4:12 left in the third quarter.
With little time left in the quarter and the game, St. Ambrose tried desperately to score on this drive in order to make the game close again. However, the Cougars’ defense showed that they were not about to let this game get out of their grasp.
After SAU got to the Saint Xavier 44 yard line, two straight sacks on 2nd and 3rd down by Hosselton and Mettille would force the Bees to punt. The quarter would end and the Cougars found themselves dominating St. Ambrose by the score of 24-3.
At the start of the fourth quarter, the Cougars were in the midst of a drive that started at the end of the third quarter. The Cougars would get to the SAU 39 yard line, but instead of attempting a long field goal to extend the lead, they would wisely punt the ball to make the Bees start a drive from deep in their own territory.
On St. Ambrose’s first drive of the fourth, the Cougars’ defense would shut them down, sacking their quarterback again and forcing yet another punt. On this drive, the Cougars’ offense was in total clock killing mode as they would keep the clock going with runs and short passes all the way down to the SAU 26 yard line, where the drive would stall and force them to attempt a 43 yard field goal.
Madhi would make this field goal as well, extending the Cougar lead to 27-3 with 6:55 left in the game. At this point, the game was pretty much in hand as Saint Ambrose would finally score a touchdown on the Cougars’ defense with 1:05 left to make the score 27-10, but it was too little too late as the Cougars would win the game by that score.
The MVPs of the game were the entire defense, as they combined for seven sacks, 11 tackles for loss, and two forced fumbles. Also, they held a Bees’ offense, that averaged 468.6 yards per game, to just 224 total yards of offense.
With the win, the Cougars’ record now stands at 5-2 with an undefeated conference record of 2-0. They will look to continue their winning ways on Saturday, October 24, against Trinity International University.
John Romando
Senior Sports Editor
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